Radio installation

[harpix42]

Hello,

 

I just installed a new radio on my Skoda Fabia 2005 MK1. It's a cheap thing but the old one broke.

 

I used the connector adaptors that it came with to attach it up to the car and i bought an antennae booster thing.

My presets wouldn't save so i looked online and found that I had to use the bullet connectors to swap over the red and yellow wire.

Now the presets save. And when I turn the engine off and take the key out the ignition I can't turn the radio on. 

SO all working great but I have a few questions if that's ok....

1) How can i make sure i'm not going to drain my battery now that I've switched the wires around?
I cant turn the radio on with the key out which seems pretty positive?

 

2) Do i need to connect the blue wire from the antannae booster to anything? The radio seems fine without it? or would I get better MW/LW signal if i connected it.
Any tips on where/how i connect the antennae booster blue wire?

 

Thanks in advance,
James
 

Edited 13 February, 2017 by harpix42

[TMB]

Hi James,

 

The blue booster wire goes to an ignition live. Standard Skoda head units have the booster bulit in which sends 12v to the aerial base but aftermarket head units don't. To work properly the aerial needs a 12v supply which is what the purpose of the blue wire of the booster is.

 

You have wired the rest correctly and it should not drain your battery.

Edited 13 February, 2017 by TMB

[vindaloo]

I found out about the "no key, no radio" thing recently. As it afflicts my recent JVC mechless h/u.

 

I wish it would simply offer an option in setup, like (wot) the Skoda Symphony manged.

[harpix42]

On 13/02/2017 at 19:59, TMB said:

Hi James,

 

The blue booster wire goes to an ignition live. Standard Skoda head units have the booster bulit in which sends 12v to the aerial base but aftermarket head units don't. To work properly the aerial needs a 12v supply which is what the purpose of the blue wire of the booster is.

 

You have wired the rest correctly and it should not drain your battery.

 

Thanks for your reply. Very helpful. 

 

So the blue wire has a little pincer grip thing. Do I just use that to grip onto another wire? I'm a bit confused how I get it attached to an ignition live wire. 

 

Thanks for for any help!

[TMB]

You could use a Scotchlok connector to splice into a ignition live wire. Just cut the pincer grip thing off the blue wire and use the Scotchlok instead. You can buy them on ebay, Halfords etc.

 

 

 

Edited 14 February, 2017 by TMB

[harpix42]

20 minutes ago, TMB said:

You could use a Scotchlok connector to splice into a ignition live wire. Just cut the pincer grip thing off the blue wire and use the Scotchlok instead. You can buy them on ebay, Halfords etc.

 

 

 

 

Thanks I might give that a go.

 

I also read this sentence elsewhere on the forums "Most headunits have an electric aerial connection on the wiring harness, simply connect the blue wire from the booster to this wire on the headunit and you'll be sorted."

I think I know what the headunit is but I'm just trying to work out which slot might be the electrical aerial connection on the skoda fabia...

I've been looking on this page...

Perhaps 8d/pin5 ??

 

I'm a bit lost when it comes to electrics.

 

 

[TMB]

I don't know which one is the electric aerial connection. I just connected my blue booster wire to the red or yellow wire, one of which is a ignition switched live. Can't remember which one though.

[harpix42]

9 hours ago, TMB said:

I don't know which one is the electric aerial connection. I just connected my blue booster wire to the red or yellow wire, one of which is a ignition switched live. Can't remember which one though.

 

Thanks I'll get a scotch lock and attach it to the ignition switch live.

 

If i get my multimeter out it should be the wire that is producing 12V with the ignition on right? and is 0V with the key out?

 

Should be either the red or yellow one. 

 

Thanks again!

[TMB]

^ Yes that's right

[harpix42]

Thanks for all your help by the way.

 

So i tried Medium Wave to see if I could find 5Live or something, but couldn't get anything. Im in Oxford so not sure if the signal is great here anyway. I then tried to "power" the aerial booster using a scotch clip I got from a hardware store.

 

So I used my multimeter and found the ignition live wire (yellow) that records 12V with the key in the ignition and Zero Volts with the key out of the ignition.

 

I then found a blue and white striped wire which also was recording 12V with the key in the ignition. I took the key out and before my brain had kicked in I had used the scotch clip to attach it to the radio booster wire. THEN I realised that this wire is 12V with the key out which means I could maybe drain my battery??...whoops!!

 

Anyway I tried Medium Wave and couldn't pick anything up. Could be the area? Could I ask you to have a look at the photo I took to see if you can see any problems with my scotch clip placement (The green arrow is pointing to this wire I found which is continuously 12V.). Did i place it on the wrong side of the head-unit? Or maybe the wires have to be going a certain way intoo the scotch clip?

 

For now i've unplugged the radio and i'll need a new scotch clip to try this again with the correct yellow ignition live wire.

 

Thanks for your help once again!!

 

 

[TMB]

You need to remove the clip and connect it to the yellow wire (with the blue booster wire). Permanent live is no good as the head unit won't turn off when you take the key out. You can sometimes get away with using the clip again if you only have one. Put a bit of tape over the splice on the mistaken wire. Don't leave that metal bit on the end of the blue booster wire as it may touch on something and blow a fuse. The wire isn't supposed to protrude out of the Scotch clip. The is a little stop inside that is meant to prevent it. You need to cut the metal bit off the blue wire before using the clip.

 

Splice should look like this...

 

 

 

You are welcome for the help.

Edited 15 February, 2017 by TMB

[harpix42]

Hi again,

 

Finally got round to having another go at re-wiring the radio. Thanks for your advice, looks like I made a number of rookie errors

 

I managed to re-use the scotch clip on the yellow wire.

 

It looks like this now (see image). No more metal clip waving about in the breeze

 

 

I have one last problem, not sure if you've got any advice on it... the radio is a bit of a tight squeeze and i can't get it to fit in quite right. I don't think there's any wires caught at the back. The metal frame casing around the radio is very tight and has scratched the plastic sides of my car.

 

Should I be installing the metal frame bit first and then slotting the radio in to that or something?

 

Thanks and hopefully that's my last question!

 

[sepulchrave]

Yes, you put the frame in first and bend a few of the tabs to retain it, then slide the radio into the frame until it clicks into place. Voila.

[TMB]

Those trousers are very dodgy

[harpix42]

2 hours ago, TMB said:

Those trousers are very dodgy

 

Ha, you're lucky I'm wearing any!

[harpix42]

4 hours ago, sepulchrave said:

Yes, you put the frame in first and bend a few of the tabs to retain it, then slide the radio into the frame until it clicks into place. Voila.

 

Oh dear I'm an idiot. Thanks for your help!

[sepulchrave]

2 minutes ago, harpix42 said:

 

Oh dear I'm an idiot. Thanks for your help!

 

It's ok, you had your clown trousers on 

[harpix42]

1 hour ago, sepulchrave said:

 

It's ok, you had your clown trousers on 

 

Ha, I guess I did!!

 

I'll have to let my mum know how her christmas present to me went down in the skoda forums

[nehtrom]

I bought an aftermarket stereo that fits my skoda fabia mk1 everything is woking but it is getting extremly hot you cant even touch it. I did yellow to yellow .. red to red ... black to black.. have i connected something wrong ? i think its when i try to turn on music then it start to get extremly hot. Becuse if i just start the car and dont touch the stereo then it doesnt becom hot.

[sepulchrave]

5 hours ago, nehtrom said:

I bought an aftermarket stereo that fits my skoda fabia mk1 everything is woking but it is getting extremly hot you cant even touch it. I did yellow to yellow .. red to red ... black to black.. have i connected something wrong ? i think its when i try to turn on music then it start to get extremly hot. Becuse if i just start the car and dont touch the stereo then it doesnt becom hot.

 

Try swapping the red and yellow and please don't spam the same question all over a bunch of topics.

[nehtrom]

I tried that then it Only gets extremly hot when i put music on

[TMB]

Sounds like it's faulty to me. Getting that hot when you put music on is bizarre.

[fasthondaXX]

I have a Fabia 06 vrs.  Radio is in and connected not set up yet turned on and is working.  Still have red to red and yellow to yellow radio goes off when ignition key removed.  Is it ok to leave like that. Need to fit aerial booster so can I connect to yellow is above.  Really useful info above but reading all not sure what to do.

[TMB]

1 hour ago, fasthondaXX said:

  Still have red to red and yellow to yellow radio goes off when ignition key removed.  Is it ok to leave like that.

 

It will lose the memory for the radio stations every time you remove the key if you leave it like that.

[AnnoyingPentium]

Switch them over as @TMB says if you're partial to keeping most settings.